Weapons of Mass Destruction-Chapter 564: Ten Kings

I would never be able to do that. I’m sure I would've done some petty shit already if I were him, but this guy, it would appear, has a much better hold on his emotions.

The intel we’ve managed to collect says he’s from some country in South America, and rumors claim he and his group are part of some kind of cartel or union of drug dealers. The wilder rumors even say they were smuggling drugs on some kind of homemade submarine.

I really want to ask if it’s true.

The representative for the 7th round is a man who’s about as tall as I, though his body is much wider. I wouldn’t say he looks like he’s overweight, just solid and strong. Not in a muscular way like Jean, but strong in his own way. His skin is very tanned, and he has long, wavy hair and a light stubble of a beard, and introduces himself as Monte. All indications say he comes from Spain or one of its neighbors, and rumor has it that he’s a shapeshifter.

Out of all of the people here, he appears to be the oldest, somewhere around 55 years old, but who knows, he could just as easily have been 70 before he found himself in the tutorial.

Speaking for the 8th round is the organizer of this meeting, Derick Kelley, rumored to be from Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom. He talks more than anyone else and tries to keep the conversation civil.

Poor guy.

Though in my opinion, extroverts like him deserve whatever comes their way.

The 9th King is a woman I’m meeting for the first time. She’s Chinese, tall and slim, with a calculating demeanor. Her black hair flows neatly over her shoulders, and she wears a set of expensive-looking clothes with inscriptions woven throughout. She appears to be somewhere around 30 years old. Her real name is unknown, but she goes by the alias Yama. ṛ𝐚𐌽𝘖βĚṥ

Curiously, even though she is a tournament winner, she doesn’t claim a chair, opting instead to stand behind it like some sort of bodyguard. Rather, a Chinese girl, probably around 18 years old, has taken that place, sitting upright in a set of clean, well-fitted clothes.

She listens attentively, but she seems weak, her skill rating Normal to Hard difficulty at most, but even so, her bodyguard doesn’t seem to mind and treats her with a great deal of respect.

And last but not least is the Korean guy I’ve already met. Baek currently appears to be sleeping, resting his head on his hand, as he slumps over the table. If Victoria wasn’t here, I could probably sleep as well.

My observations made, I turn back to the conversation.

“Yes, we are willing to trade information as much as the system’s censorship will allow. Even though this tournament is competitive by design, I do not believe it is intended to turn us into enemies,” Victoria says.

Derick quickly agrees, “That’s true. We might fight and compete to show our strength, especially with the way this place prevents us from dying, but the true enemies we need to worry about are outside the tutorial. These 5 years are just the beginning of the centuries Earth will spend in the system.”

“If we won’t destroy ourselves before we get that far,” says the 11-year-old Russian boy, speaking for the first time. He seems to shy away for a moment as all eyes turn to him, but he tries to hide it nonetheless, and he does it well.

“That’s true,” Derick says, “We have already seen a number of scenarios that could come to pass, especially on the more powerful planets, those steeped in ambient mana far more dense than anything on our delicate Earth.”

“On Earth, there are currently multiple countries with atomic bombs far more powerful than anything used during either of the world wars, yet we are still here,” the Chinese lady acting as bodyguard says, her voice smooth and soothing as she speaks; almost as if she thought through each word with care before speaking.

“Ha!” Jean snorts but doesn’t say anything else. He returns her gaze easily as if challenging her to do something about it.

“It is very likely we will get to that point as the First Generation as well. But do not forget that humans can be highly emotional and illogical at the best of times. It is not unreasonable to expect that some of them may become irrational or begin to act like tyrants once they attain these powers,” Victoria answers with methodical slowness.

She and that Chinese woman exchange a glance, and the other woman nods in agreement.

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“Given what we’ve seen, it generally falls to the Absolute to ensure that such people do not cause too much damage. And further that such tasks should be handled by a powerful Champion until an Absolute can be appointed.” Yama says.

“And what if our future Absolute becomes one of these tyrants?” Derick asks.

Unbothered, Victoria answers, “Then we would have any number of options to consider, one of the simplest solutions being killing such an Absolute.”

Jean interrupts, “And what about you, are you saying you don’t want to become our Absolute?”

Once again, she answers without the slightest hesitation, “Currently, I see no need to become Absolute, but it is entirely possible that I may change my mind depending on future circumstances.”

“Decide to become one?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking crazy. Let’s go fight!”

“I apologize, but I cannot do that at the moment. You can send someone my way to ask again later. I do not mind the thought of dueling you once I have a bit more time. It should be possible sometime in the next day or two.”

“You, fight me.” Jean turns to me this time; he doesn’t shout, and he seems to be lacking energy in his voice. It must be hard to be constantly rejected.

Victoria answers on my behalf, “Mister Jean, for a certain reason, my brother is very busy during this tournament. If you really have to, we can spar right after this meeting, if you will have me instead of him.”

“I can live with that.”

“Thank you, but allow me to give you a warning. This time, I have decided to step back because of the promise my brother made and because I would prefer to have a good relationship with you. I consider you strong and someone who keeps his word, valuable to keep around. But there are limits that I have. If you decide to push this any further despite my warning, I will react appropriately.”

It takes a moment for Jean to process the threat. And the way Everyone around the table looks at Victoria makes me want to slam the palm of my hand against the table just to see if anyone jumps in fear.

“Please, let us keep this meeting civil,” Derick says. “Even though we all have our own goals. Some might just want to be left alone and enjoy the luxuries our abilities might afford us, while others might want to influence the trajectory of their country or have their names written in history. But in the end, we’re all in this together, especially if our planet finds itself caught up in a Pairing. And we’ve seen how dangerous that can be. The First Generation must be willing to work together.”

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Klara asks, “From what we’ve seen, Pairings only seem to happen to planets with Absolutes and Champions. If early Champions appear five to twenty years after the tutorial and Absolutes take decades, shouldn’t that mean we have plenty of time?”

“It’s very likely,” Derick agrees. “But imagine if we all cooperate. Hell difficulty can take disciples from the lower difficulties or teach the most talented from Earth. Hard difficulty could train large numbers of people. We can create a system to strengthen our planet or even find a way to travel to others and join a Coalition to help us face our first Pairing.”

“Ask me again closer to the end of the tutorial. I’ll know then,” Klara replies. “For now, this is all too theoretical for me.”

“I will,” Derick promises, but it’s clear his words are meant for everyone.

Following this, the conversation moves.

It seems like it is the Hell difficulty attendees’ custom to remain mostly quiet to collect information before acting and to avoid accidentally insulting someone powerful. A skill you need to gain in the tutorial if you don’t want to end up splattered against the wall by someone strong.

Most of them are quiet. Yama, Monte, Baek, and even I are among the quietest of all. Most of the conversation is carried out by Derick, Victoria, Jean, and Klara.

So many new names, but I make sure to try to remember them all. These people should be among the strongest in the Earth’s tutorial and future Champions, so it’s worth it.

While they converse, I turn to Hector on my right and ask quietly, “What the hell was that spear of yours?”

He glances at me, leans closer, and lowers his voice, “I found it on the 6th floor.”

“Low Arcane?”

“Yes, your sword?”

"Mid Arcane."

“Bullshit.”

“I’m not lying. Where did you get the spear? Somewhere further north? Mind Mage City?”

“Mind Mage City? We didn’t go anywhere near that cursed place, but yes, it was up north where the snow started appearing. There were ruins of an old castle, and we found a huge labyrinth beneath it.”

“Damn, that sounds cool. I never went there.”

“There are a bunch of places we missed out on. What was that skill that fucked up my mana control? It even disrupted my internal mana, it shouldn’t be possible to do that easily.”

“I brute forced it. I won’t tell you the name, but it started as [Disruption] and went through a few evolutions and skill combinations. Look, man, I know it’s a shitty feeling when someone disrupts and takes over your mana, so I recommend making a greater effort to defend against that sort of manipulation, even if you have to spend months working on it. It’s worth it.”

“I guess,” Hector says, looking around as the conversation continues around us.

For a moment, I listen and then hear Derick speaking to the people around the table, “There is a goddamned lynthari moving between the camps and bothering people. She’s even been taking a bunch of smaller Earth items from people in the lower difficulties. How is it even possible for a lynthari to be here?"

I filter it out and ask Hector, “And get rid of that invisibility bullshit.

“No.” He replies, grinning and returning my gaze.

So, he has chosen death.

Klara from the 2nd round also raises her voice, “We also had an incredibly quick woman enter our camp. She stole a lot of blankets and a bunch of daggers. She even tried to take one right off my waist.”

I noticed it before, but Klara’s voice is energetic and has the tone of a great singer, a mixture of energetic liveliness, contained laughter, and confidence.

I ignore the content of her words and turn back to Hector, “Is it true you used to be a drug dealer and that you guys made your own homemade submarine?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I ran an Import and Export Business,” he says with a deadpan expression.

Someone shoves me from my left, and I turn to Vic, who is making no attempt to hide her actions. Looking up, all eyes are on us.

“Yes?” I ask her.

“Derick was asking what our plans are after the tutorial.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I cannot be sure at the moment, given all the ways things might change by the end of the tutorial. I also made it clear that I won’t go out of my way to interfere in geopolitics or spark major conflicts without a very strong reason.”

“Oh, I see,” I nod and address the rest, “I plan to take an island for myself. I don't mind stealing it from some rich guy after threatening him. Maybe I’ll make a moon base or create a floating island or something. I fully intend to use my power and that of my group to get some nice things. If we decide we need to keep things “legal,” our healer could shave a few decades off a billionaire’s age for an easy hundred million or two, and we could live off that.”

The others sit in shocked silence, and it's Klara who laughs first, before asking with a big smile, “Do you really think things won’t change too much for it to be that easy?”

“You're probably right, but a man can dream.”

“If that moon base happens, count me in for a visit. I want to see the view.”

“No girls allowed in my secret base.”

She laughs again, and Derick takes over the conversation once more.